Providence in the running for Streetsblog’s ‘Parking Madness’ title

Streetsblog is running their annual Parking Madness brackets. Parking Madness’ dubious award is the worst urban parking crater. Providence’s Hospital District is up against the Vancouver suburb of Surrey.

The area around Rhode Island Hospital in downtown Providence is mostly a flat expanse of parking lots. Something about the combination of large institutions and highway ramps just seems to choke off walkable development.

While I-95 is a formidable barrier between downtown and this hospital and university cluster, all is not lost. The reader who submitted this entry, who gave his name as Drew, says the area has good bus service that’s about to get better with the launch of the Downtown Connector, “a realignment of several bus routes” that will cut headways below five minutes. Sounds like transit good enough to build around.

Jef Nickerson

Jef is Greater City Providence's co-founder, editor, and publisher. He grew up on Cape Cod and lived in Boston; Portland, Maine; and New York before settling in Providence. In addition to urbanism, Jef is interested in art, design, and ice cream. Please feel free to contact Jef if you have any question or comments about Greater City Providence.